How much more (££) for frame building in the UK?

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How much more (££) for frame building in the UK?

19 posts & 15 voices | Started 9 months ago by letmetalktomark | Latest reply from letmetalktomark

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letmetalktomark - Member

A question probably best posed to the likes of Brant, Cy, Sam and Mike but .....

We have a good deal of UK bike companies that design their bikes in the UK but have them make in Taiwan, Russia etc.

I appreciate that there are cost rationales for this but ..... how much more would UK built frames cost over those built out of the UK?

I am not talking about custom geometries etc - std off the shelf options like the Soul, Inbred, Swift PA etc built in the UK?

Is it that there is just not the industry appetite (i.e. manufacturers) as well as the cost?

Only interested thats all.

Posted 9 months ago #
cp - Member

I believe it's as much about quality and actually getting the things made rather than cost - there just aren't places in the UK geared up for batch production of bike frames.

Posted 9 months ago #
wwaswas - Member

there was a thread some time back about this - brant went into some detail on costings. I think the summary was that it more than doubled the base price, even for series production.

Posted 9 months ago #
thepodge - Member

take a look at Pashley and Bob Jackson prices, both do off the shelf uk built frames. not exactly like for like but utilise should give you a rough idea.

Posted 9 months ago #
letmetalktomark - Member

Cheers Guys.

Was just a thought.

I thought Pashley and BJ were quite small scale compared with the likes of OO, Cotic etc

Besides the Pashley Govnor is about £800 as a full bike and is 531 IIRC seems like reasonable value for money if made in the UK?

Posted 9 months ago #
mike-at-dialledbikes - Member

UK manufacturing was something I looked into before starting Dialled Bikes properly 8 or 9 years ago, but after having a couple of samples made in the UK (which were expensive and not as good as the Taiwanese samples I got), I concluded there wasn't really anyone in the UK who can make frames to the quality, price point and volume that Taiwan can.

I'm very happy with the quality, service and pricing I get in Taiwan, so I don't really harbour any desire to get stuff manufactured in the UK anymore. But never say never.

I'd certainly be interested in knowing about companies who can build frames though. e.g. I know Eighteen Bikes offer a prototyping service.

Posted 9 months ago #
tim3 - Member

Orange make beautiful hand made frames here in Yorkshire and I know a guy that does that job. He is a engineer by trade and lost his job, like you do and got into bike building. He's said many times that the quality and skill that Orange build to is amazing!
Pricey frames, but British made, good or bad?

Posted 9 months ago #
Northwind - Member

Don't want to speak for Cy at Cotic but I'm sure I remember him posting that he'd looked into UK manufacture but ruled it out not on cost but on quality and availability- much like Mike says up the page.

Posted 9 months ago #
thebikechain - Member

The Taiwanese make a great job of things. Our Ti Alpines are very nice indeed.

Posted 9 months ago #
compositepro - Member

We can build anything to a very high standard .however when the majority of people want something for nothing it's a different matter.Mike maybe you went to the wrong people.

Posted 9 months ago #
buzz-lightyear - Member

So are we saying that British don't have the skill and ingenuity to build frames of a quality and price to compete with the Taiwanese? Or are the existing British fabricators unwilling to try?

How is it that Pashley bash out their complete bikes at such a low price? High Volumes?

Posted 9 months ago #
simondbarnes - Member

How is it that Pashley bash out their complete bikes at such a low price?

Because they're shit.

Posted 9 months ago #
compositepro - Member

So are we saying that British don't have the skill and ingenuity to build frames of a quality and price to compete with the Taiwanese? Or are the existing British fabricators unwilling to try?

No No and probably dont believe they can compete so are unwilling to try.

Posted 9 months ago #
Edric 64 - Member

Because they're shit.

+1

Posted 9 months ago #
Northwind - Member

I was going to post a bit of a longer analysis of why the Pashleys are so cheap. But Simondbarnes' one will do just fine.

Posted 9 months ago #
chiefgrooveguru - Member

It's probably more that the facilities are no longer here, so although it would be economical to build niche premium frames in the UK the start-up costs are too high. The likes of Cotic need a factory which has all the facilities to do full scale efficient production runs - but that factory needs to keep itself busy the rest of the year too.

Posted 9 months ago #
tron - Member

Pashleys aren't cheap. If you look at internal hub town bikes, you can pick them up for a couple of hundred quid. Pashleys start at more than double that...

Posted 9 months ago #
mrmo - Member

I thought Pashley and BJ were quite small scale compared with the likes of OO, Cotic etc

You do know that Pashley made postie bikes don't you? They are a tad larger than any of the niche mtb suppliers.

Posted 9 months ago #
letmetalktomark - Member

Cheers for all of the response.

Makes for an interesting, if a little sad, read.

mrmo - yes I did know about the RM bikes

Posted 9 months ago #

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